Facing Fate
by Nessa Elendil
Summary: The summer has ended, Harry is back at Hogwarts for his fifth year, and for the first time, he's looking forward to going home. Of course, things there aren't going as well as they could be either. -Sequel to "Death and Destiny"
1. Family Farewell

**_A/N: This is the sequel to "Death and Destiny" and you probably don't need to read that first, but it will clarify, probably, a lot._**

* * *

**Chapter One:**

"Lily, you can't sit around in bed all day," James said, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, and an amused grin on his face as his wife replied "Watch me."

"C'mon, Lils. It's not the end of the world."

Lily sent him a glare that suggested it might as well have been and stood up. "Well how come Sirius got to go? I can understand everyone else, but Sirius is supposed to be the one stuck here with us in this… this shithole."

"You know, I thought I was going to be the one to say that," James said thoughtfully, causing Lily to roll her eyes and sit back down. "It's not like I got to go either," James said caringly, sitting down next to his wife.

"Well last I checked, dear, stags don't prance around the streets of London."

James smiled as he brushed Lily's fiery red hair off the side of her face to kiss her cheek. Even though Lily and James had escaped the hidden lair of Lord Voldemort (which had, according to Albus Dumbledore, since been abandoned by Voldemort and his followers), Dumbledore still insisted that they lie low at Grimmauld Place. This meant that they were confined to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black while the majority of the Wizarding World believed them to be dead.

It wasn't the worst situation, but after being locked up for so long, the Potters had hoped for some freedom, even if was minimal like Sirius'; he was at least allowed to leave the house in his Animagus form to walk Harry to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Harry was the real reason the couple wanted so much to get out of the house. As long as they were all together, they didn't really care where they were, but Lily and James wanted to be able to do things with their son that they had missed out on doing for the past fourteen years, like seeing him onto the Hogwart's Express.

Lily sighed. "I just want a chance to be his mother, James…"

James put his arms around her and pulled her close. "What are you talking about? You're a great mum, Lils. Harry thinks the world of you. And not every mother would die for her son." _Nor would every son die for his mother…_

The last part James refused to say out loud; Lily had only heard Dumbledore's accepted version of what happened the day they rescued her, which was that Harry had only been injured. And as far as James was concerned, that was all she needed to hear. After "conducting further research", the aged Headmaster concluded that there was no way Harry could have, in fact, returned from the dead; but James didn't believe that. He knew Jasmine wouldn't have said Harry was dead unless he was dead. Still, if Dumbledore said Harry hadn't died, then that's what Lily would hear, he wouldn't burden his wife with what he "believed" had happened.

"James?" Lily asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?"

She looked as though she were going to say something when a loud crash downstairs set off the screaming portrait of Mrs. Black, which in turn set off Sirius.

"I think they're back."

James nodded and stood up. "Well, shall we then?" he asked playfully, extending his hand to his wife.

She rolled her eyes, but took his hand.

* * *

"Hey, Padfoot, next time you decide to grace us with your delicate tones-"

"Oh, you heard that, did you?"

"-how about you just don't?"

"Well that's nice," Sirius said sarcastically with a hint of hurt in his voice.

"I don't why you'd be upset with that, Pads; it's a point I've been trying to drive home for months," Jasmine said, causing Sirius to flip her off in return.

Displeased with the action (Sirius was the only one she was really concerned about forgetting to kept language and gestures clean when her son – or other children – was around), Lily cast a charm that made Sirius' finger poke Sirius' eye. (_"Ouch!"_)

"I can't believe I'm going to have to put up with you all year," Sirius said, rubbing his sore eye.

"Me?!" Lily asked, raising her wand.

"No! Jasy."

Jasmine nodded. "That'll cost you," she said, raising her own wand.

"All year?" James thought the moment might have been a good time to help his friend out. "I thought you were going to Hogwarts."

"If I had known at the time who was going to get the Defense position, I wouldn't have declined the offer to teach it, but I was done dealing with snot-nosed, twitchy brats when I graduated Hogwarts," she told him.

"Wasn't your method of 'dealing' with them hexing them until they cried?" Remus asked, somewhat amused.

"You could say that, but it wasn't my fault they cried. They wanted to provoke me, they brought it upon themselves. They wanted to be in Slytherin, they brought it upon themselves. But really, come on, we were growing up during a war, they needed something that would at least start to prepare them for the world outside the school."

"That's horrible," Lily said, trying to suppress a grin.

Jasmine shrugged.

* * *

Tonks left the kitchen after a moment of silence, remember that she still needed to feed her pet gerbil. Her aunt called after her, saying she didn't know why she would bother with the rodent, it was a chubby little thing and the only gratitude it ever showed was biting the hand that fed it. Tonks chose to ignore this.

On the way, she bumped into the coat rack, causing Remus' cloak to fall onto the floor, and something to fall out of the pocket. She hung the cloak back up and picked up the object, making to put it back in the pocket, but stopped when she saw what it was: A ring.

Was Remus going to propose to her? Her heart raced with excitement, and a smile lit her face as she slipped it on, all thought of the ingrate gerbil forgotten. It was beautiful.

Tonks heard someone coming, and – in case it was Remus, who she figured would want to surprise her – she pulled off the golden band, and regretfully placed it back in the pocket. However, before she let go, her hand felt something else in there, and curiosity caused her pull whatever it was out. It turned out to be another wedding ring, a man's.

What was this for? Did guys usually buy their own wedding ring before proposing? Somehow Tonks didn't think so.

"Hey, we heard something fall; are you okay?" Remus asked her.

"Yeah," Tonks said. Figuring it'd just be best to say something than wait to find out, she said, "These fell out when I bumped into, uh, when the rack fell over."

Remus looked curiously at the small objects in her hand, and realization dawned on his face. "Oh, I'd forgotten about those! They're James' and Lily's; I found them with their wands."

"Oh." Tonks tried not to show her disappointment as she handed the rings to Remus. Until that moment, she hadn't realized just how much she was hoping her boyfriend would propose to her. She was probably trying to push things, but she didn't think that way. She was ready to take the next step, even if—

"Dora!" Remus tried again to get her attention.

"What?" she asked with a jump, being snapped out of her trace.

"You alright?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Finished feeding the gerbil?"

"Yeah, he's fine."

He smiled and took her hand as they walked back into the kitchen.

* * *

Immediately upon entering, James managed to catch both their eyes and subtly shake his head, as if to tell them not to bring attention to something. Seeing an oblivious and bald Sirius told them all they needed to know.

"Prongs, can I talk to you out in the corridor?" Remus asked, trying to keep a straight face and any hint of laughter out of his voice.

"Sure, mate."

Once out of the kitchen, Remus handed the rings to James. "I found these and thought you might like them back."

James looked at the two rings and smiled. "Thanks, Moony."

"No problem; I would have given them to you sooner, but with the battle and everything, I guess it just slipped my mind."

James smiled one of his famous Marauder's grins. "Mr. Prongs believes Mr. Moony has an acceptable reason for his tardiness."

"Mr. Moony is pleased to hear that Mr. Prongs understands his reasoning."

Both wizards laughed as though they were back at Hogwarts again, even more so when they heard Sirius scream.

James still couldn't believe life could be so good, or that the growing threat of Voldemort could be pushed so far back in his mind.


	2. Forgiving Facts

_**

* * *

**_

A/N: I'm in a good mood today, so I decided to post this chapter instead of do homework, lol. Hope you like it!

* * *

_James still couldn't believe life could be so good, or that the growing threat of Voldemort could be pushed so far back in his mind._

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Tonks had slipped out of her bedroom during the dead of night, unable to sleep. Thinking maybe she'd head to the kitchen for something to drink, she noticed a light on in the library, across the corridor from the closed door of the study, which was now a room avoided at all costs by the Marauders. She meant to quietly slip into the library with a light knock on the door, but ended up tripping over the threshold and landing flat on her face.

"Careful, hun; you'll break your nose doing that," Jasmine said to her, not turning from her seat by the fireplace.

"Like I haven't already," Tonks muttered more to herself than to her aunt. (Nonetheless, Jasmine faced her with an amused grin.) "What are doing at this hour anyway?"

"Contemplating life," Jasmine answered simply, returning her stare to the glow of the fireplace.

Tonks snorted. "Mind if I join you then?" she asked, sitting down next to the other witch.

"Please do," Jasmine answered unnecessarily.

* * *

James, seeing that Lily was lying awake, staring at the ceiling, sighed loudly to get her attention as he slid into bed next to her.

"What?"

When James noticed his wife's eyes hadn't left the ceiling, he too stared up at it, and sighed again.

"James-"

_Sigh._

Sighing herself, Lily pushed herself up and asked again, "What?"

He pushed his own body up so his back was resting on the headboard. He extended his arm around her, and she leaned into his chest.

"I've been thinking, Miss Potter…"

Something about those words didn't sound right to Lily. She lifted her head from its comfortable position atop her husband's chest. "'Miss'?"

"Well it's been a while," James answered simply.

Lily stared at him, open-mouthed in disbelief, unable to ask the "What?!" she felt forming in her throat. She managed to grumble out, "James Potter, so help me, if you say that we aren't married, I'll-"

"Hush, love."

"Excuse me?"

"Only for a minute."

"I don't believe you!"

"It's just been such a while; I thought it would benefit the both of us if you agreed to marrying me again."

For a moment, Lily sat in silence, looking down at James, still resting comfortably against the bed. "What?" Her voice held nothing of the angry disbelief it had been full of only moments before.

Smiling, James held out her wedding ring.

"How…?"

James just continued to smile. "Lily, will you marry me?"

Lily looked into his smiling, mischievous, and loving eyes, and gave a smile back to him. "Yes… Yes, of course! …James…" She met his lips with her own.

* * *

"So what's keeping you up?" Jasmine asked her niece.

Tonks shrugged.

"Everything okay with you and Remus?"

"Yes," Tonks answered, almost a bit too quickly.

"Come on, you can tell me. What's up?" Jasmine said, edging her niece to tell her.

Nymphadora drew her knees up and hugged them to her chest, using them as a chin rest. "I thought he… I thought he was going to propose," she answered quietly.

"Oh, well…" Jasmine put her arms around the witch and hugged her close, kissing the side of her head. "Why not drop the hint? Maybe he'll get it."

She snorted with disbelief. "I don't think we're talking about the same Remus, Auntie J."

With a shrug, Jasmine asked, "You want me to push him underneath it as you drop it?"

"No thanks; I'd kind of like him to live if he doesn't get the hint, and if he missed it, you'd probably continue pushing him right off a cliff or something."

Jasmine chuckled. "Whatever you say, hun," she replied softly.

* * *

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the Gryffindor Common Room, discussing their new professor, a woman named Umbridge whom Harry knew from his trial.

"But what can the Ministry really do against Dumbledore at Hogwarts?" Ron asked.

"Honestly, Ron, didn't you listen to Professor Umbridge's speech? They're going to do whatever they can to gain control of the school and throw Dumbledore out. That's the main reason they positioned Umbridge here in the place."

"But- but, Hermione! Dumbledore is still Headmaster, and this school is full of Or—Ow!" Hermione had kicked Ron, hard, to stop him from saying 'Order members'.

"Ron!" she hissed quietly. "We're not supposed to know anything, and neither is the Ministry!"

"But we're not in the Ministry!"

"No, but the Ministry is here, we have to be careful what we say."

"Not when we're alone in the Common Room," Ron insisted.

"We won't be alone much longer if you two keep bickering," Harry said, but Ron and Hermione both ignored the statement.

"They could be listening inside the Common Room, Ronald. Rita Skeeter wasn't the only one able to sneak around Hogwarts; and you can bet the Ministry will be behind Umbridge in whatever she does."

"That still doesn't mean-"

"I'm going to bed," Harry said loudly, tired of listening to his friends' constant arguing. They either didn't hear him or again chose to ignore him. The way they were going at it, Harry could honestly think it was the former.

Instead of going to bed once he got to his dormitory, Harry dug into his trunk for a small package wrapped in brown paper that his father and Sirius had pulled him aside to give him shortly before he left Grimmauld Place. Sitting on his bed, he opened it, carefully, and looked curiously at the mirror that fell out. He read the inscription on the back: 'HARRY – THIS IS A THREE/TWO-WAY MIRROR. IT USED TO BE MINE, AND SIRIUS AND JASMINE HAVE THE OTHER TWO. WE USED TO USE THEM WHEN IN SEPARATE DETENTIONS. SINCE PADFOOT HAS GRACIOUSLY AGREED TO SHARE HIS WITH ME, I AM GIVING MINE TO YOU. JUST SAY THE WAY OF WHOMEVER YOU WANT TO TALK TO, AND THEIR FACE WILL APPEAR IN YOUR MIRROR, AND YOU'LL BE ABLE TO TALK WITH THEM. LOVE, DAD'

Harry smiled, looking at the last two words. They meant more to him than the mirror itself or anything else James had written. Harry wondered if it was too late to use it. Judging by the shouts he could still hear down in the Common Room, he doubted Ron would be up anytime soon.

He put a Silencing Charm around his bed, and turned the mirror over in his hand. He smiled again, running his finger over the word 'PRONGS' elegantly engraved into the bottom of the mirror. After fourteen years of being an orphan, it was so hard for him to believe his parents were really alive when he wasn't with them.

"James Potter," Harry said clearly into the mirror.

* * *

Harry had only been talking with his father for a few minutes when Ron burst into the room, waking everyone up.

"HARRY, HARRY!" he shouted.

"Gotta go, love you, bye," Harry said quickly, shoving the mirror under his pillow so no one would discover it. After all, he had been told to keep it secret, and he wasn't ready to share it with anyone yet, even Ron.

"What, Ron?" Harry asked, after taking down the Silencing Charm.

"Geez, Weasley, go to bed!" one of the other boys yelled, annoyed and tired.

"Me and Hermione! No… Um, Hermione and me! We, Hermione… !"

"Ron, what?"

"We kissed! Harry, we kissed!"

"Was that worth waking us all up for?"

Harry and Ron ignored him.

"I don't know what happened… We were arguing, and then, just all of a sudden, we were snogging!"

"That's great, Ron!" Harry said, glad to see his friend so happy.

"Mate, I kissed a girl," Ron said, somewhat proudly, as if the entire truth of it was just sinking in.

"I don't care if you banged the Giant Squid, just shut up so we can get back to sleep!"


	3. Finding Foes

_"Mate, I kissed a girl," Ron said, somewhat proudly, as if the entire truth of it was just sinking in._

_"I don't care if you banged the Giant Squid, just shut up so we can get back to sleep!"_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

A few weeks later, Remus and Tonks in a Muggle pub in downtown London sharing a quick meal during Tonks' lunch break. Tonks had excused herself to the little witch's room only moments before a third Wizarding presence entered the place.

"Hem, hem."

Remus eyed, curiously, the toad-like woman in front of him. "Yes?" he asked slowly, removing his napkin from his mouth and placing it on the table.

"Remus Lupin?" the woman asked in a falsely high and much-too-sweet voice.

"Yes." Remus answered, again with curiosity. She looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen her before. "And you are?"

"Dolores Umbridge, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic."

Remus' eyes instantly narrowed with dislike. "Oh." He had never actually seen her in person before.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" she asked, and obviously not caring for the answer, she sat down in Tonks' seat.

"Actually-"

"I have some questions for you, regarding a rather… important matter."

Striving to control his voice, Remus told her, "I will not be answering any questions about Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, or Lord Voldemort."

Umbridge looked rather taken aback, and shocked. "I suppose I should have expected one of your kind to be comfortable saying You-Know-Who's name." She had momentarily forgotten her all too innocent tone. Before Remus could respond to that, she continued. "That is not what I'm here for-" Something caught her eye, and her sentence stopped short. "Whom are you here with?" she asked, again in that sickly sweet voice.

"I don't see why that's any concern of yours," Remus answered, keeping his voice as civil and dignified as he could.

Umbridge looked around, as if to prove the safety of her surroundings. "Whoever it is couldn't possibly know of your half-breed status, and it would fall under my duty to alert them to keep you from further endangering the public."

Remus couldn't help but find some amusement in that. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

That was the moment Tonks chose to return from the bathroom.

"Remus?"

Umbridge turned around. "Ah, Nymphadora."

Tonks glared with hard eyes and opened her mouth to retort.

"Out to lunch with a werewolf, I see."

Tonks' glare turned even colder.

"Well, I think I know all that I need to," Umbridge said, making a note on a clipboard she hadn't been carrying a moment before. "I must return to Hogwarts now." She had left before another word was uttered.

Standing up, Remus dug into his pocket, pulled out some Muggle money, and threw it down on the table. "Let's go."

Tonks nodded, her own minimal confrontation with Dolores Umbridge having been enough to make her blood start boiling.

* * *

At Hogwarts, Harry was getting ready for another Defense class with Ron. Hermione was spending almost every spare minute studying for O.W.L.s in the library. Harry and Ron were waiting until closer to the exam to study; they had exhausted their brains just listening to Hermione's study tips.

"It's the beginning of the year, O.W.L.s aren't even until the end, why do we have to worry about them now?" Ron whined to Harry, making sure they were out of earshot of Hermione.

Harry tried to change the subject, not wanting to think about O.W.L.s at all. "So how are you two doing?" he asked, referring to his friends' status as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Ron sighed. "Good."

"Something wrong?" Harry asked, noting his friend's tone.

"No, nothing's wrong. It's just…" He looked around the corridor to confirm that Hermione was still at the library. "Her idea of a date is to spend the evening in the library."

"That's not too bad," Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

Ron shook his head. "Studying. Just studying."

"...Are you kidding?"

"No, I-"

"About what?" Hermione, it turned out, had finished earlier than she expected in the library and had just caught up with the boys outside the door of the DADA classroom.

"Nothing," the two replied simultaneously.

"Oh."

Almost thankfully, the bell rang, and the trio took their seats in the back of the classroom.

Professor Umbridge walked into the room with a certain spring in her step that couldn't be missed, and she sounded unusually cheerful.

"Good afternoon, class."

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," came the monotone reply.

"We will be doing a special assignment today, class."

The few remaining hopeful lifted their dull, staring eyes to actually look at the teacher.

"Today, we will begin a two thousand word essay, due next class, on how to recognize a werewolf in human form."

Through the groan of the majority of the class, Harry's head shot up, as did Ron's and Hermione's.

"All the information you will need can be found in your book," Umbridge continued, as if she hadn't heard the mass groan of protest.

"Um, Professor?" Hermione asked, her hand in the air.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"If you don't mind me asking, according to you, we're supposed to be studying magical theory; what does this assignment have to do with that?"

With a cheery laugh, Umbridge answered, "Oh, nothing too much dear, but there are some new laws about to be enacted, and we wouldn't want any of you to be associating with anyone found guilty of breaking them, now would we?"

Harry opened his mouth, but Hermione kicked him under the table. He already had a few weeks worth of detention built up with Umbridge, and he didn't need any more.

* * *

After lessons were over for the day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way, under the Invisibility Cloak, to Hagrid's empty cabin. Even though they were worried that Hagrid had yet to return from wherever he was, right now, his cabin was the perfect place to go to avoid being overheard.

"James Potter," Harry said clearly into the mirror his father had given him. When no one answered, he tried again. "James Potter."

Nothing.

"Prongs."

The mirror's glass showed only his own reflection.

"Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry could see the worry beginning to show on his face. "No one's picking it up… Sirius Black."

When his godfather also failed to appear in the mirror, Harry found his nerves continuing to grow.

"You don't think something… happened? Do you, Harry?"

"I don't know. Padfoot."

Had something happened?

"Jasmine Black."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally."

"Hey, kiddo; what's up?" his godmother asked.

"No one was answering.?"

Her face asked her question. "What?"

"I tried Dad and Sirius, but, do they not have the other mirror or something?"

"Uh, I'm not sure if they have it on them or not, but your mum's giving them a, um, lecture about not dying the house-elf purple; so they are out of the communication lines at the moment."

"What?!" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Oh, don't worry, we didn't hurt him. At least… I don't think we did…" She finished more to herself than Hermione.

"Jasmine," Harry cut off Hermione, getting back to the reason he was trying to get in contact with Grimmauld Place in the first place. "What's going on at the Ministry?"

"What do you mean?"

"Umbridge said something about not wanting us to associate with people who'll break these new laws coming out, and assigned an essay on recognizing werewolves as humans."

Confusion and thought dominated Jasmine's features. "New laws?"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

Realization dawned on her face. "Oh, shit. They must have repealed it," she said to herself.

"What?"

She looked back at Harry through the mirror, momentarily having forgotten he was there. "I managed to get some legislation passed not too long ago; did nothing but lengthen the law making process. They must have gotten rid of it; I haven't heard about any new laws, and there's no way they would be enacted fast enough to be without my knowing if that legislation was still in place." After a moment's thought, she said, "I have to get to the Ministry. I'll talk to you guys later."

Again, Harry was left looking at his own reflection.

* * *

Mirror tucked safely into her robes, Jasmine headed into the kitchen, or rather, the war zone, where Sirius and James were currently cowering, taking fire in the form of Lily's wrath.

"Hey, guys, we've got a problem."

"Oh thank Merlin!" Sirius whispered to James in relief.

"No really, I think the Ministry's been repealing my legislation."

"Doesn't it deal with legislation?" James asked.

"Yeah, and they're enacting new laws as we speak."

"What about?"

"I'd guess werewolves, but the list is bound to expand before long. It wouldn't surprise me if this was something to see how easily they can maneuver around my legislation."

"Well what are gonna do? We can't have them passing laws we don't know about until they've already been enacted. Too many people are already toeing the line as it is."

"Doesn't look like we've got much of a choice there, mate."

"I'm going to Hogwarts," Jasmine decided.

"What for?"

"Maybe I can minimize Umbridge's communication with the Ministry."

"And how are you planning on doing that?"

"I'll improvise."

"But… won't Fudge be wondering why you're watching the person he posted?" James asked her.

"So I'll… confound the Minister first. Shouldn't be too hard," Jasmine muttered, giving a slight smile, and slipping out the door.

Lily looked at her husband and his best mate. "Do you think she's insane, or just reckless?"

"I don't know, Lils; but either way, I'd be willing to bet Dumbledore's going to have her head for this."


End file.
